Growing a Green Thumb

When I used to hear people say that they would garden for exercise, I would kind of chuckle inwardly, with a smirk and a sarcastic "some exercise!" look running across the face of my mind.

I had no. idea.

Obviously, I was thinking of the bi-summerly weeding I would invest into the scraggly patch of flowers I would pretend I knew how to grow in front of my house. I had no idea how to properly prepare a bed, what it took to make things really grow, let alone what went into preparing a vegetable garden from scratch.

Especially one made in raised beds.

Hints of what is to come.

The first bed (from recycled lumber) is put together.

A load of BS. (Okay, it probably came mostly from the female of the bovine species.)

Jason's little truck bed is not very long--only about 7 feet. But still, after three loads of manure and dirt (and I need to get one more of dirt!) which I shoveled out by hand, then mixed up on the tarp by hand (the mixture is 1 part each of manure, topsoil, and peat moss), then into garden beds, I am sore. I am losing the last remains of my paunch (re-accumulated on my trip up here). And I am getting a tan.

On Thursday night, I was working in the garden until about 11:00 p.m., finally filling up two of the beds and getting my potatoes in. They were so well-sprouted, they were banging on the lid of the box, begging to get out! I am hoping that they were still in the ground early enough that I get a harvest. I should get the last two garden boxes put together tomorrow morning, and hopefully fill up one more with dirt and get my onions in. I have to get my other load of topsoil before I can finish filling up the last three boxes.

I have been grateful that I have been able to borrow a friend's cordless drill and saw set to put these beds together, as our power on the property is only run to a pole, and no further. However, that means a significant drive every time I need to work on it, as the tools are at the Gregorys (about ten minutes north of town, and about ten minutes from the property, and about fifteen minutes from here), and Jacob also has projects that he has been using them for, so I have to return them every time. I am VERY grateful that I will be finished with needing them after tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow night, Jason and I will be renting a hotel suite in town for a little "alone time" to celebrate our ninth anniversary, which was on Wednesday. We have not had much time to spend alone together since I arrived back in Alberta, so we are both looking forward to it.

However, between now and then, we are babysitting three extra kids overnight--which means that yes, there will be nine kids (eight boys and one girl) eight years and under in the house tonight! It's going to be noisy!

Happy weekend, friends!

Settling In

We moved over to Magnussons' about a week ago. That makes it sound so simple and painless, doesn't it? Really, we are still in the process of moving, with unopened boxes piled high around us, and not much furniture to speak of. We got a queen mattress and boxspring for Jason and I to sleep on on Wednesday, so that's a huge plus. It was only $50 and smells like stale cigarette smoke. But it was only $50! Other than that, it is comfortable, and in much better shape than our previous mattress.

The "most unpacked room" award goes to the classroom/craftroom, including the elusive Planning Binder, which I finally found last Thursday after a nearly month-long hunt. That means--you guessed it--we get to start school this week! Yippee!

I spent Friday night and Saturday at the yearly home schooling conference in Sexsmith (near Grande Prairie) and got lots of new ideas about how to educate the children in ways that hold both of our attentions. I also got some questions answered in regards to what school board to register with this upcoming year, and some curriculum choices. Very worthwhile.

In Alberta, home schoolers get funding, but they have to be registered with a willing non-resident school board who will handle all the legal things required to home school. The school board you register with, and how much you want to align your program with Alberta Education's, decide how much funding you get.

Jason would like to put the kids back into the public system in a few years, so I have already been teaching in such a way that "3 R's"-type work will be aligned with Alberta's curriculum requirements. Because of this, I have decided that a Blended program will work for me this year, and in that case, we get more funding than if we registered with a school board who only handles Traditional (completely parent-directed) home schoolers. There are a couple of wonderful Traditional boards, and I feel drawn to them more as far as philosophy is concerned, but considering how expensive curriculum is, Jason and I decided to go with The Centre For Learning At Home out of Okotoks, AB (who can handle all three types of home schooling programs: Traditional, Blended, and Aligned). I am looking forward to having the support provided by a facilitator who comes around a couple of times a year to see how you are doing.

Well, that's all the yabbering I have time for right now. BUT! Jason just got the wireless internet set up here (I am typing this on my laptop!), so I now have the ability to go on the internet and browse, even, instead of always using a shared computer and hurrying to get off as soon as possible. Look for more regular updates in the near future. (With pictures, even!)

Hugs, friends!

Looking Up

The funk has passed. The wind has changed. Yes, it brought with it about 2 inches of snow, but that is almost gone again already, thankfully!

I got snagged in the $4 clearance rack at Walmart the other night, so I now have a couple more shirts to choose from.

And, for those of you who were concerned, none of the comments in the last post had anything to do with my marriage. Jason and I are still going strong, and will be for many, many years to come.

Changes are good. They stretch. Sometimes the stretching hurts, that's all. Like birthing a baby--one has to stretch a lot for that. It hurts like you have never experienced pain before. Things never go quite back to the way they were after that. But you would not trade that experience--and it's outcome--for anything in the whole world.

Tonight, Jason is over at Magnussons', helping to paint the last bit of cement basement floor. Do you know what that means?

Tomorrow we get to start moving in!!

I am so. excited. about that.

Now, the remaining work to do on my tax return that must be started the moment my computer is set up again?

Not so much.

Dragging My Feet

Is it okay to be tired of change? Is it okay to wish for a little space of familiarity to call my own? Is it okay to want to have more than four available shirts to choose from?

Change does happen, though. Outside, inside, we all change. What happens when two people change in different directions? Does the relationship continue, or do you simply change the way you relate to each other? Do you change the things you talk about?

Change can be good, this we know. Spring is here, weather is warming, trees are budding. Good changes. New information brings up new questions. It is good to question. The answers, though... those require more change, don't they? What do you do once a new seed has been planted, once you know something new... ignore it? Purge it? Nurture it? Is it a weed, or is it a rose?

What if it's a rose to you, and everyone else is pretty sure it's a weed?

Why must change make life so difficult sometimes?

Is it okay to be tired of change?

Mr. Contrary

It's been slowly building over the last few months--this metamorphosis of my third sweet child into a Hyde-like beast who is never satisfied with anything, and wants exactly the opposite of what he is offered.

I guess it comes with the parcel of a three-and-a-half-year-old. The Terrible Threes? Well, that's how it is with this child.

This morning, the now-typical conversation at the breakfast table went something like this:

Me: Jabin, sit up to the table; your hot cereal is ready.

Jabin: But I don't yike hot cereoh!

Me: Don't be silly! I've been giving you hot cereal every other day for the last three years, and you've always loved it! You can't tell me that you don't like it!

Jabin: Oh, okay. (Sits in his chair, somewhat pouty.)

Me: Would you like some raisins or nuts in your cereal?

Jabin: I don't yike waisins!

Me: (Rolling eyes.) Whatever.

Jabin: (after a pause) Mommy, can I have some waisins, pwease?

Me: (Insert internal scream of frustration here.)

I'm so glad that I know this won't last forever.

(I hope.)

On Preparing the Soil...

Just a few of the things I have been thinking about this week:

• Where will I get lumber to build my raised garden beds?
• How can I get as many garden-making supplies as possible for free?
• Where on our property should I make the beds?
• How am I going to get them watered once my garden is established?
• Which home school board should I register with this year?
• What changes do I need to make to my home schooling approach this year?
• Can I get my registration in to the Home School Conference in time? (Thankfully, the answer to that was yes, I found out tonight!)

I am hoping to get my gardening stuff done by the end of this weekend, for two reasons:

1. Soon, the deadline for planting in our all-too-short growing season will have passed, and I will not be able to harvest anything before fall frost.
2. The mosquitoes the size of dragons have started to awake from their winter slumber, and dragon-fighting whilst building garden beds does not seem to be such a good mix to me. Besides, my shield and spear are still packed in the Sea Can.

I am slowly remembering how to blog without using photos. It's hard, but I think I can do it!

One last thought: today, I read an article that told me that white tea helps you burn fat, similar to green tea (only better!) Yay! I love reasons to drink tea. I can't stand the taste of green tea, but white tea I can handle. Will it make me skinnier? I dunno. But I can say it will, right? :-)

Would you like to come over for a cuppa?

Un-Brief Again

Dad and I were enjoying our traditional Scrabble game on the Friday night--it was getting later, and we were definitely doing more talking than playing, but we had a lot to catch up on. Around 10:30, the front door slammed and there in the dark entrance stood a mysterious man in black. Well, until he spoke, anyway.

Jason had surprised me by driving down to Sylvan Lake to meet us! It is no exaggeration to say I flipped out, squealing across the distance from the table to the door. It was the best surprise, ever.

We spent the weekend hanging out as a family, doing the traditional Easter Sunday Eat-N-Dash between relatives' places, and then Jason had to leave to be back at work by Monday morning. The kids and I spent the rest of the week visiting the friends we could actually get ahold of (including Chris and Tegan K., who just had their first baby!) We stopped in on Thursday night at my friend-since-childhood Kristy's home in Edmonton, dealt with a flat tire before leaving the city on Friday, stopped in St. Albert to pick up my new seeds for my new garden at Hole's Greenhouse, and were in Peace River by bedtime! Whoo-ee, did I really cover that whole week in one paragraph?!

Unfortunately, we had managed to collect a couple of nasty souvenirs on the way--one was the cold my brother had, which was first contracted by Noah, and worked through the four of us until I finally got it. It was hitting me hard on that final stretch from Edmonton on Friday the 17th. Also, that night, all three of the boys threw up. It was exciting. Whatever strange virus they had was never violent--in fact, after the initial puking, they ate almost normally, had mostly-normal energy, and no fever. But they took turns for almost two weeks (Noah being the longest-hit) throwing up in the morning, hardly eating breakfast and having the runs, but then playing hard all day and eating fine the rest of the night. It was the weirdest thing. I have no idea where they got it from--it didn't hit me, or any of the kids we have been staying with for two weeks. My friend Robin said her kids were doing the same thing at the same time, but we didn't even see them until we had been up here a week! So, you folks that we stayed with along the way--do you have any ideas?

All right, I'm gonna wrap this up here. It's frustrating being so behind on my blog--I've had stuff to blog about the last couple of weeks, but wanted to finish this first, so the whole idea got skipped. Anyhoo, we have been staying with our friends the Gregorys. We keep thinking we are going to get to move over to Magnussons' (our semi-permanent residence for the next undefined "while") in "just a few days," but the basement-finishing is taking longer than we all thought. Jacob and Erin have been SO awesome, and our kids all get along really well, so we have been enjoying it here, not feeling like we are quite wearing out our welcome yet.

Spring has been finding it's way up to Peace River. We left it in the dust somewhere around Calgary, but although it's progress may have been slow, it was at least steady. I am getting antsy to get my garden started, but have not yet got all my materials together. Since I won't be "moving" tomorrow, perhaps I will work on rounding up dirt and wood and stuff to make my raised beds, instead.

I am also getting antsy to start doing school again. I have seven weeks of teaching left, and I don't want to be having to do it during the few short summer weeks that we actually get here. Unfortunately, although I was able to find my basic teaching supplies, I do not know where in the C-Can I buried the most important thing--my planning binder. I am hoping it will turn up once we are able to start taking stuff out of there and moving it to Magnussons', so I actually have "elbow room" to dig a little deeper amongst the boxes.

Although we are supposedly living with him (Jason came to stay with us at Gregorys' until we can all officially move together), we have still hardly seen Jason. He has been working late on the basement every night, sanding what has been mudded the day before. Last night, we actually got a family night as there was not much to do over there, so we went out to dinner and went swimming. That was lots of fun--the kids were in heaven!

Soccer also starts Monday, so we will be all kinds of busy this upcoming week. And in other news, Jacob has the first two seasons of "Heroes" here--we started watching it last Sunday night, and are already half-way through Season 1. It is SO. GOOD. And addicting. We should maybe have spent more hours sleeping and less hours wondering "what will happen next?" in the past week, but did I mention that it's SO. GOOD?

So, there you have it. The briefing is over, and this blog can resume regularly scheduled programming.

How have you been keeping, friends?